MEANWELL ELG A series I0/V0 ajustement

[Tom_fr]

Hi Everyone,


New owner of MEANWELL ELG-150-42-3y drivers, I am looking for information about the I0/V0 potentiometer settings.

I have two of the drivers I plan to use to power two LM301B led Boards (39V @ +/- 2A).

As I plan to rune those at around 80W per board I am not sure yet what would be the best configuration:

Have one driver per board and limit the current to the minimum allowed by the driver (1.8A from the docs)

Have both connected in parallel on the same driver and limit the max voltage for protection in case one board is failing (the remaining one won't last a long running at 150W)

Would you have any comments about the two solution above?
Any documents related to the I0/V0 potentiometer? How to adjust them for both cases stated previously?


Thank you very much.
Thomas

[JayKell]

Hi Everyone,


New owner of MEANWELL ELG-150-42-3y drivers, I am looking for information about the I0/V0 potentiometer settings.

I have two of the drivers I plan to use to power two LM301B led Boards (39V @ +/- 2A).

As I plan to rune those at around 80W per board I am not sure yet what would be the best configuration:

Have one driver per board and limit the current to the minimum allowed by the driver (1.8A from the docs)

Have both connected in parallel on the same driver and limit the max voltage for protection in case one board is failing (the remaining one won't last a long running at 150W)

Would you have any comments about the two solution above?
Any documents related to the I0/V0 potentiometer? How to adjust them for both cases stated previously?


Thank you very much.
Thomas

Hi Thomas, welcome. Generally speaking, either method would work and protect the boards. If you know you're not going to turn them up for now, I'd wire both in parallel off of one driver. You would take a slight hit in total output power, but drivers tend to get very inefficient at the bottom of their adjustment range, so you may actually end up putting out more light.

[Tom_fr]

Thank you Jaykell,

I understand how to dim the current with I0, but what about V0? Should I adjust it in open circuit? With a load ? To which value ?

According to my memories from school and logic I would think it would be something like adjusting the V0 with no load to have an output voltage slightly higher than 39V (which is the voltage across the board at 2A)... but it is such old memories ...

Do you know correct way to set those I0/V0 potentiometer in case I want to have the to two boards powered up by the same driver and at the same protect the remaining board in case one is failing?

[TEKNIK]

You don't need to adjust the voltage at all, your driver will automatically supply the correct voltage to the strips. The only time I would suggest to drop the voltage is if you wanted to limit current in a parallel build incase something goes wrong with one of your strips.
The way to do this is to use a multimeter to check the voltage when it is on full load cold. You can adjust the voltage down until you see the output voltage of the driver drop. Try to set it until just before it drops. This way if you disconnect a strip the current going to the strip that is l left should also not increase or be a very minor increase

[Tom_fr]

You don't need to adjust the voltage at all, your driver will automatically supply the correct voltage to the strips. The only time I would suggest to drop the voltage is if you wanted to limit current in a parallel build incase something goes wrong with one of your strips.
The way to do this is to use a multimeter to check the voltage when it is on full load cold. You can adjust the voltage down until you see the output voltage of the driver drop. Try to set it until just before it drops. This way if you disconnect a strip the current going to the strip that is l left should also not increase or be a very minor increase

Thank you very much, this exactly what I wanted to do as I have no strips but only two boards I plan to drive around 1.5A each. Even if they are supposed to handle a bit more than 3A individually I was worried it would it would be to much for my application.

[TEKNIK]

If you set it right on the sweet spot your boards will actually draw more current as they heat up and the voltage from the LEDs drop. You will need to do some checks on heat when at operating temperature as you may want to change it slightly, I am sure you will get it right to suit your needs.

Cheers

[JayKell]

Sorry I missed your reply, as usual TEKNIK is exactly right...

[Tom_fr]

Thank you again TEKNIK and JayKell,

I just finished setting up all together, and it is exactly what I wanted. I tested the Voltage limitation and it is working perfectly as explained.

Cheers!